European Commission Vice-President for Inter-Institutional Relations and
Communications Strategy

A vision for
Europe

European Youth SummitRome, 24 March
2007

Dear delegates to the Youth Summit, distinguished guests: good morning!

I am so happy to see all of you, young people here! You are the future; you
are the workers, businesswomen, artists, teachers, and decision makers of the
future.

They say that life begins at 50; but from my own experience I know that you
reach that point far too quickly. So my first wish would be: stay impatient!
Engage in a project, which that goes beyond your personal carrier, or
self-interest. Widen your perspective, follow your heart.

Let us for a minute to put ourselves in a global picture. For many years the
world's leaders promised to eradicate poverty in the world, to provide drinkable
water to all inhabitants of our planet; to fight hunger.

But look at the reality: despite all these commitments, poverty is still a
humiliating phenomenon; more than a billion people still do not have access to
clean water, millions of children go to bed hungry every night or do not have
access to education.

Don't forget the rest of the world; that part of the world which is –
contrary to what happen among the member states of the European Union is still
devastated by the war, ethnic conflicts, abuse of human rights. Don't forget the
poor, the humiliated, the left behind.

I wish you would be able to tackle three challenges which are, at the same
time a challenge for you, the young people and for the European Union.

The first challenge is about democracy: democracy can not be taken for
granted; it has to be fought for over and over again. Don't repeat the
historical mistakes of underestimating the dark forces of racism, xenophobia or
anti-democratic ideas in Europe.

The second challenge is about integration; Europe is already a home for many
immigrants and refugees; but do they get the right welcome? How can we live in
harmony together? Fight fanaticism and extremism, with tolerance and mutual
respect. We have to prevent the creation of urban ghettos and the
consequent problems we have seen on the streets of some European cities in
recent years.

The third challenge is identity: we are living in a moment of European
history, where the traditional meaning of many words is changing. Europe,
European, abroad, national identity, national boundaries: each generation fill
these words with different concepts. We have now the generation who we can call
the Erasmus generation.

Travelling throughout Europe doesn't really mean for you "going abroad", but
only changing language, and they fly from a European capital to another without
noticing national boundaries, as your parents did. Perhaps you will be able to
become the transforming generation for the European identity; an identity which
is build from the bottom up.

So where is Europe now? Is Europe doing enough? Is the European project still
able to attract positive attention and to create enthusiasm?

Birthdays are a time for taking a critical look at ourselves and
thinking about where

we are today and where we want to be in five, ten or fifty years'
time.

This is the first Youth Summit ever organized by the EU institutions.
You therefore represent a broad constituency across the 27 member states.
And this will not be a one-off event. This is a start of a new dialogue between
young people and the EU institutions. There will be a follow-up both on the
process and on the content.

We want to listen to you.

Europe today is facing tough new challenges. Globalisation,
global warming, the social inclusion, ageing population

Today's challenges are so big that no one country can possibly tackle them on
its own. We need to act together, exercising our collective
strength as the European Union.

What are you expecting from Europe? What sort of Europe do you want?
Speaking for myself, I want to see:

A dynamic Europe founded on smart growth

A productive Europe where everyone has a job

A caring Europe where the sick, the elderly and the handicapped are
looked after

A just Europe where there is no discrimination and everyone has equal
access to jobs and education

A clean, green Europe that cares for its environment and helps meet
the global challenges

A secure and free Europe where the rule of law preserves liberty for
all citizens.

Overall, I want Europe to develop a model of
trulysustainabledevelopment that we can show, with pride,
to the rest of the world. A Europe which is able to integrate and show
solidarity towards new Members, as it has been able to do so many times in the
past.

These are the policies which represents the Europe of tomorrow. But you can
not deliver the policies of the future with the tools of the past. This is why
we need a new consensus. We need a new Treaty.

Once Jacques Delors said "No-one will ever fall in love with the Single
Market" I believe he was right!